Old friends and lovers reunite for a weekend in a secluded country home after spending decades apart, in this contemplative novel from the author of The Reader. They excavate old memories and pass quiet judgment on the wildly divergent paths they've taken since their youth. But their conversations about the old days aren't your typical reminiscences; after 24 years, Jörg, a convicted murderer and terrorist, has just been released from prison, though the news is not yet public. Among those gathered around him are his sister Christiane, who fears for his safety, and Marko, a young man intent on having Jörg continue to fight for the cause.

"[Bernhard] Schlink avoids the easy route of condemnation and salvation, never lingering too long on Jörg's crimes ... and though the past is admirably handled (sketched in, but not overbearing), the book's real strength is the finely wrought dynamics among the characters, whose relationships and histories are fraught with a powerful sense of tension and possibly untoward potential."—Publishers Weekly